When it comes to vision, many Americans get the concepts importance when it comes to their love lives and family goals. But what about finances? Maybe feeling spent literally is more like it.
On a recent episode of The Ramsey Show, Canadian psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson contended that its fairly shocking that so many Americans have failed to visualize their financial goals.
Its a miracle of stupidity, Peterson said. Its the number-one thing we should be teaching people, and we dont do it at all!
Peterson told host Dave Ramsey that while poverty has many causes, the absence of a plan ranks high up there. And despite the widespread belief that only the rich get richer, Peterson stated that even the rich cant achieve their goals financial or otherwise without planning.
You need to develop a vision for your life, he stressed. And that makes delaying gratification for example, and not engaging in impulsive momentary pleasure, worthwhile because youre building towards something that you actually want to attain.
If you ask Peterson, it boils down to some fairly simple questions. Americans need to ask themselves who they want to be and why; where they see themselves in five years; and what theyre building towards. In other words: Why work if theres nothing worthwhile at the end of the line?
Ramsey further argued that not only does having a high definition vision benefit you in the long run, but also in the short term as burnout goes away.
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Youre probably tired, but youre not burnt out, Ramsey added.
This comes as you work towards a goal, Peterson explained. You experience the hopes, joys and other strong positive emotions that come with achieving that goal little by little. And that in turn makes you want to work even harder and improve your focus.
No goal, you have none of that! No vision, no goal! Peterson said. So youre not going to get tired and feel hard done by if your sacrifices youre endeavoring to do are clearly worthwhile by your own definition.
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To help, Peterson created an exercise for helping come up with your vision: Imagine yourself in five years. You can have what you want and need but first you must map out exactly what that looks like. Now commit that map to paper, writing for 15 minutes straight.
Dont worry about getting it right, Peterson said. Just get it down for 15 minutes.
For some, its easier to carry out the exercise by pretending youre caring for yourself the same way you would for a friend or child.
Peterson says American teenagers who participated in this Future Authoring program before they went to college saw incredible results. Grade point averages (GPA) were 35% higher and dropout rates plummeted to 50% lower than the national average. Having a goal in mind seemed crucial to unlocking how young Americans could visualize a future that includes a solid education.
Our school system was set up to produce mindless, obedient workers, Peterson went on. We havent updated our notion of what schools are for 140 years!
To shift from this expectation, Peterson recommends that Americans avoid working merely out of circumstance. Instead, set goals on your own terms. You can imagine that dream life with less effort than you think.
Daydream, like when you were a kid, he said. You want to bind that with a little intelligent rationality within the realm of possibility.
With a vision thats possible while still compelling, youll be well on your way to a life thats worth dreaming about but you probably already saw that in your vision of the future.
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
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Its a miracle of stupidity: Jordan Peterson told Dave Ramsey that this is the number-one thing Americans need to accomplish their goals and its dead...